Consolidated Nuclear Security recently laid the final roof beam of what will become the new High Explosives Science and Engineering facility at the Pantex Plant in Panhandle, Texas.
During the topping out of the facility, the construction crew placed the final steel beam on the Technology Development and Deployment Lab last week, the Pantex site said in a statement.. The lab is one of three structures that make up the 72,762-square-foot complex.
“It is exciting to watch this vital facility take shape,” Russell Daniel, Pantex’s senior director for project management, said in a statement. “Our project team, in partnership with the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and our construction subcontractor Hensel Phelps, has worked extremely hard to reach this milestone.”
The High Explosives Science and Engineering (HESE) facility will replace 15 obsolete facilities at Pantex, the average age of which is 68 years old, and support the Pantex High Explosive (HE) Center of Excellence for Manufacturing. The $100 million HESE project will add to the existing 650 buildings on the 18,000-acre Pantex campus. Funding for the project was included in the NNSA’s fiscal 2020 budget.
The HESE facility will provide laboratory space, classified and unclassified office and meeting areas, and a shower and changing area for high explosives operations personnel in closer proximity to explosives manufacturing operations at Pantex.
“This is part of our ongoing efforts to modernize Pantex and provide state-of-the-art amenities for our high explosives scientists and engineers,” said Colby Yeary, Pantex site manager. “The facility will qualify new HE and assess legacy HE returning from the nuclear weapons stockpile as well as help develop and sustain high-quality scientific staff; support computational and experimental capabilities; and support development of additional evaluation and diagnostic tools.”
